Today we move into a section on Eternal Life in "Who Will be Loved" by William Willimon. This is a longer selection as a story is used to make his point.
It is this miraculous, gifted quality of salvation that is lacking in popular pagan views of death and the afterlife. Most people I know believe in the "immortality of the soul" - there is in a divine spark that goes on and on even after our physical death. That's Plato, not Paul. Greeks like Plato taught that human beings possess an immortal, imperishable "soul" that goes on, in some shadowy sense, beyond the ravages of physical death.
"I believe that my daughter has now become the rain, the wind moving in the trees, the stars that shine at night," said a woman to me after her daughter died of leukemia. I'm sure that her notion of immortality was comforting to the grieving mother. And yet, I feared that it would ultimately turn out to be false comfort. First, it seemed to me a sad denial of the horror and the tragedy of a young woman's death. Wind moving through the trees is small potatoes compared with a living, breathing, loving, adorable person. Paul said that death is hated, the "final enemy" (1 Corinthians 15:26), and I believe him right. Second, wind moving through the trees is leftover small change compared with the treasure of a distinct, embodied personality whom we have known and loved, loved not so much for her general humanity, but loved personally in her delightful particularity. I feared that this grieving mother was settling for too little. But mine is a point of view prejudiced by Christian salvation.
We will hear in the days to come what else Willimon has to say about this. For now, I know that this is a topic that causes a bit of conflict among us. It is not easy to have a loved one die. It is dreadfully painful and it becomes difficult to move ahead in life when we have lost the companionship of one so close. I know that it is that "delightful particularity" that keeps someone present and in mind as I move through the stages of grief and continue on my way as a follower of Jesus. If this was a blog that was responsive, I would imagine that comments would run wild in regard to this aspect of how some see death and immortality. Alas, we are each left to consider this by ourselves or how ever we choose to walk through a dialogue about death with others. To be quite frank, I like Willimon's comments about how insufficient and inadequate he finds this woman's comments. For me, don't give me wind. It cannot be the powerful presence of, let's say, my mother. It is her living presence with me and her way of looking at me and her way of calling my name and her way of kissing me and her way of being at the other end of the phone or just a trip up I-71 that cannot be contained in wind or the rain. I hold the memory of her in my heart. She is dead and gone - as I one day will be. So now - along the way - I live within the promise of being beloved of God who has given me such gifts as my mother so that as I continue along the way, her "delightful particularity" continues to spark a smile and a tear and fond memories.
Connection: Beloved of God, be free to walk forward into this day and be grasped by all the real life people who have been and still are helping to shape you and love you and call forth your loving response to them.
When you love us, O God, it is complete and everlasting. When we love others, there are times when the sadness surrounding their loss can bring about such grief that we cannot let go and trust that they are at peace and we will be also. Help us to remember the importance of the presence of those around us so that our days will be filled with more and more real-life particulars that remind us of the gifts of your creation available to us in our companions on this journey through life. Amen.
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